Northumbria University Library Wiki
Northumbria University Library is the student library for Northumbria University. Situated in the city east campus of the university, this wiki page describes the aspects of the design of the building. w11016092, BE 1380, Northumbria University Library Language of Design Proportion The library is well proportioned to suit the needs of its use. It has 5 floors and the building is taller than it is wide. Although the the building is so tall, the 5 floors have high ceilings and is wide enough to comfortably move around in. The facade of the building is pre tty standard and what you would expect from your average building, it does not take up more room than it needs to due to the vast amount of buildings situated in close proximity to it. The structure looks smaller on the outside than it does on the inside and a lot of the building structural detailing is within the building and little can be seen from the outside. Scale You will find huge eye trickery in the design of the buildings scale. The entrance is concealed between the building facades and you get the idea that you are walking into a small office that seems to expand as you wander further into it and realise the buildings height and pleasable simplistic design. Within the buildings floors there is a great scale in the size of them, they are big and expansive enough for a place to work in. The basement and first floor are greater in scale compared to the second to fifth floors and provie a more relaxed and pleasent area than the later floors which provide storage space for the library's books aswell. Rhythm Rhythm can be found within the buildings subtle details. The staircase for example is very rhythmic in it's design, along with the second to fifth floors which are created in a similar layout and fashion. Some might say the staircase and second to fifth floors are simply repetitive but some will see them as intelligent details in the buildings design. The colour scheme combination of the floors provides rhythm to the building in the fact they are all bright lively colours providing a nice environemtn for students to do their work. Texture To look at, the building is quite modern and futuristic with large windows and is easily viewable to see the inside of the ground floor from a distance. The facade of the building also states this case, it has patterning that makes the building look individual to itself and is easily recognisable that allows it to stand out from the other buildings close to it. The ground floor of the building from the oustide has an appealing beige stone finish which adds to it's modern look, and a rotating automatic door as well. Colour The colouring of the building is not broad in any real sense. The main colour scheme of the building is blue, this is a good choice for a building of it's nature because it is easy on the eye and not too distracting for a place of work. Floors one through to five have a unique colour scheme to give them their unique identity over one another. The first floor is primarily orange, with a green section providing more relaxibility to students. The second floors unique colour is dark blue, which is the darkest colour of all of the floors. The colour looks professional but not as easy on the eye, however, it still provides a calming enviornment to work. The third floor colour is purple, it is a lively and attractive colour that fits the profile of the building well and is intelligently chosen to provide students with an alternative colour scheme to be in. The fourth floor is light blue which is the nicest colour of all floors, it is the colour of the sky, and so, relieves stress for those within it's environment. The fifth floor is a quite a commonly stereotyped feminine colour of pink which fits in well with the colour of other floors to create a lively building 2013-12-13 09.54.37.jpg|First floor work area 2013-12-13 09.50.19.jpg|First floor sitting area 2013-12-13 09.28.10.jpg|Basement work area 2013-12-13 09.27.54.jpg|Basement sitting area 2013-12-13 10.23.24.jpg|5th floor 2013-12-13 10.18.59.jpg|4th floor 2013-12-13 10.08.58.jpg|3rd floor 2013-12-13 09.59.42.jpg|2nd floor 2013-12-13 09.24.54.jpg|Ground floor, right side 2013-12-13 09.22.07.jpg|Ground floor left side 2013-12-13 09.39.56.jpg|3rd floor - 4th floor. Staircase. 2013-12-13 09.39.11.jpg|1st floor - 2nd floor. Staircase. 90px-0,1520,171,1100-2013-12-13_10.18.19.jpg|4th to 5th floor staircase Design Development Lifts Lift access is a must have in buildings with many floors today, it combines technology with ease of use. The benefits of having lifts is that when there are so many floors to scale, a lift can provide you access in less time and using less energy. It is also vital for disabled people and their use of the building. Smartcard Reader Electronic card readers are becoming more common in the modern age. They provide an easy way to handle money and entrance to buildings of all uses. It allows staf to track members and customers of the loans on their account and provides an easy way for people to use buildings without personnel aid. Today these can be found within football stadiumsand shopping centres, even university buildings to monitor a student's attendance. Shops Inside the basement, there is a shop that provides refreshments for students. This is important in the role of advancing building technologies and the overall development of buildings as it gives people more than one use for the building making it multi-purpose and more attractive to personnel wishing to use it. Shop use within buildings can be found within Design Reality The buidlings of today are designed to be spacious. The population rose a great deal during the 20th century and the buildings of that era needed to be made and provide use for a large number of people at the same time. Those buildings are still standing today but have been refurbished to support modern use. The devlopments in the late 20th century to early 21st century have not been massive because there has not been as big a revolution to building devlopment since the post-war era. Modern buildings are redeveloped with technology you can see today, with populations worldwide becoming bigger there is a struggle to keep up with demand of building space that is needed. Location & Visual Enclosure Design Process Structural Design Structural Design Practice: Loadbearing Structural Design Practice: Frames Innovative Structural Design Integrating Spacial and Structural Design Category:Browse